The story

Another Ascari versus Fangio excerpt

/ Christiaan W. Lustig / Leave a comment

Here’s another excerpt from the Ascari versus Fangio chapter:

Fangio started to feel like a stranger in his own team. He never felt that Ferrari could be his team. Not like Ascari had appeared to have made it his team, from the very start of the championship. He was obviously the Old Man’s favourite, being the son of Ferrari’s former team-mate and close friend Antonio, when both were employed by Alfa Romeo, and having been on the Scuderia’s roster since 1949. And not even like Collins apparently had, with Ferrari even giving Collins the prototype of the formidable 250 GT Cabriolet road car. Little did he know that it was because Enzo couldn’t stand Collins driving a Lancia Flaminia, and that Collins only had it on loan.

Again, we’re curious for your thoughts. Reply below or send us a tweet @SennavsSchumi

Villeneuve versus Prost excerpt

/ Christiaan W. Lustig / Leave a comment

Here’s another excerpt, this time from Mattijs’ Villeneuve versus Prost chapter:

Pironi wasn’t really a threat to Villeneuve in the ‘shitbox’ they had been given last year. At times, Gilles found ways to drive around it while Didier was simply lost. But now, in the car that had been handed to them by Harvey Postlethwaite, Pironi was on top of things, performing like the World Champion elect he sometimes made himself appear to be in 1980, on every occasion the Ligier was handling at its best. This afternoon, at Zolder, he was simply majestic at a track on which he had shone before. The Belgians – especially the ones feeling half French – hadn’t forgotten Pironi’s dominating 1980 win and now, two years later, he’d done it again. A Ferrari driver was finally leading the World Championship again, and it wasn’t the man driving the No.27 car. Gilles Villeneuve, for once having left his family behind in Monaco where Melanie was preparing for her first communion, felt alone. At the end of a long day he walked back to the helicopter pad, head down. It would be a long flight home.

Tell us what you think!

Ascari versus Fangio excerpt

/ Christiaan W. Lustig / Leave a comment

Here’s a little excerpt from the Ascari versus Fangio chapter:

Fangio knew there would be a downside to Ferrari’s offer, as well. Because there had been a surprise participant at the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. Alberto Ascari, by then almost fully healed from the injuries sustained in his Monza test crash, had been forced to look for new employment after Lancia’s demise, and had decided to re-join the Scuderia that he had so successfully raced for from 1949 through 1953. And although Ascari would finish the final world championship race in third position, behind Mercedes drivers Fangio and Piero Taruffi — a sound return after his forced summer break — he was as ready for the new season as he could be. Even though Fangio would, for the first time since 1951 have an other world champion as his team mate, he decided to take Ferrari’s offer.

Tell us what you think!

Intriguing thought: Gilles Villeneuve in a McLaren-TAG

/ Christiaan W. Lustig / Leave a comment

Nigel Roebuck posted something interesting in his reply to an e-mail he got from a Motor Sport reader regarding Gilles Villeneuve’s future after 1983, and after Ferrari:

Although no contract had been signed, Gilles had agreed with Ron Dennis that he would drive for McLaren, returning to the team which had given him his first Grand Prix drive, at Silverstone in 1977. And when you think about it, had that come to be, the course of F1 history might have turned out very differently, for the McLaren team would have been Lauda and Villeneuve, and there would have been no place — in 1984 — for Prost.

In John Barnard´s MP4-2, Lauda and Prost dominated that year, Niki beating his team-mate to the championship by half a point, and in ´85 and ´86 Alain won the first two of his four titles. Gilles in an MP4-2… quite a thought, isn´t it?

That’s quite intriguing to Mattijs and myself. We might consider changing the story we have on Villeneuve versus Prost, either its setting, e.g. with Villeneuve at McLaren and Prost elsewhere, or its basics, creating a more prominent role for Lauda.

We’ll keep you posted.

‘Senna vs Schumacher and Six Other Formula One Rivalries That Never Happened’

/ Christiaan W. Lustig / Leave a comment

Last night, my co-author — whom I’ll reveal shortly 😉 — and I finalised the concept for our new Senna versus Schumacher set-up and sent the outlines of it to our potential publisher for him to review.

Tentative title for new-style Senna versus Schumacher

The title for our alternate set-up would likely be:

Senna vs Schumacher and Six Other Formula One Rivalries That Never Happened

7 what-if stories about perished/injured drivers

Like I stated earlier, the new set-up consists of 7 stories revolving around drivers and their main rivalries had they not died or been injured to the extent that they could no longer compete at the top level.

The 7 what-if stories are:

  1. Senna versus Schumacher
  2. Villeneuve versus Prost
  3. Reutemann versus Andretti
  4. Cevert versus Lauda
  5. Rindt versus Stewart
  6. Moss versus Clark
  7. Ascari versus Fangio

Dutch or English book depends on publisher’s reply

We now wait for the publishers reply. If he responds favourably, we will likely write Senna versus Schumacher in Dutch in co-operation with the publisher. If he does not, we will likely write an English book and publish it ourselves, either as e-book or through printing-on-demand.

Let us know what you think

We’re of course very curious for your thoughts. What do you think of our alternate set-up? How do you feel about the 7 stories? Is there anything we missed or anything that you would like to add?

Please leave a comment or drop us a line on Twitter: @SennavsSchumi